What's right & what's wrong, what's right & what's left?
Terribly simple on the face of it however there's blurring everywhere, whether that should be or not is another thing but there is blurring...lots of it.
Recently seen one prominent WALabor MP get stuck into rural & regional voters stating "that was the fault of the previous state coalition government, now Labor has more regional MPs in WA than anyone else"
What was lacking on the end of that state, and for good reason, was "now regional people will see some real progress". It was left off with good reason because the fact is WALabor could have filled every rural seat but nothing will change. They are still going to be in the minority.
Here's a range of possible facts, first one is definite, the WALabor Government is in fact a truer coalition government than the previous Labor/National Government. For one thing, the NatsWA were minority partners and they weren't in coalition, they were in "partnership". With the traditional coalition arrangement, all members of the government despite their party had to fall into line behind the prevailing view of the government. A Nationals minister would be kicked out of cabinet if they crossed the floor. As we saw with the City of Perth Bill NatsWA saw that was going to cause harmful shire amalgamations in the bush they crossed the floor, it was lost. No doubt there was fall out but there's current Libs now see it was a bad bill for the bush. NatsWA refused to support the sale of the Fremantle Port. It will turn out to be a massive financial windfall in decades to come that ths asset was retained. Western Power, well the Nats put restrictions on this sale, most of which would have meant the sale was unlikely.
Now if a Labor Government were in place & was pushing the same government agendas or perhaps other Bills or initiatives that would be damaging to the bush, what happens in a WALabor government camp? Simple. In theory.
They vote behind closed doors and that's the way EVERY Labor MP will vote on the floor of parliament. No crossing the floor allowed. They have borrowed from the catholic church and dissent results in payback in the form of being ex-communicated from the party.
Right now School of the Air in WA is on the chopping block, so too are residential colleges in rural & regional areas. Is there a good result at the end of it that the 15 regional Labor MPs can point to?
No. They just say its regrettable and its the Liberal/National Party's fault. No austerity in Perth with $373,000 going into Basketball in the Premier's electorate (which by the way is more than the Albany Ice Rehab programme in Albany gets OVER 2 YEARS!!!).
A $125,000,000 marina in Labor held Joondalup to service the playground needs of the City's rich & tasteless.
Second fact, the current WALabor Government is actually more of a Coalition Government than the Lib/Nats. Its made up of several factions. There's the "left", there's the "progressives" and then there's the small group who claim to be factionless.
Which ever group rules the day on a particular issue, those of a differing view cannot speak out against the decided stance, they cannot partake in "back bench grumblings" and they certainly cannot cross the floor.
Payback is swift if that happens. EXPULSION FROM THE PARTY and the party labels them a treacherous disgrace of a rat.
Irrespective of the methods, all do as the majority says and dictates, there will be no dissent. They can claim to have fought hard behind closed doors, but there is absolutely no way of knowing and no one within will take efforts to prove it. Its topic avoidance if it is raised.
Tactic 1 to 365...blame the previous government or the current opposition.
Here there is no blurring. Its their way & no other option. Who they are is another murky question but its not regional Labor MPs way & its not regional resident's way either.
Blurring of the left does happen when they pursue the Gold Tax (when they said in opposition they wouldn't) they pursue it twice whilst the massively wealthy foreign owned Rio Tinto & BHP still only 25c a tonne on the special mining rental fee. A fee that's been never been changed since 1963. It was agreed to waive it the first 15 years and later it was forward paid to get infrastructure they were going to use up & running. It can be changed without too much trouble.
Not very left, looks like (and I'll borrow this from the leftist handbook to further underline the irony) "book licking the big end of town bedfellows".
What's this fluid approach do to other issues like poverty that apparently are supposed to be big on Labor's radar? Well nothing its ignored as single pensioners get a 30% increase in their power bill soon ( https://thewest.com.au/politics/state-politics/power-prices-pensioners-hit-hard-by-mcgowan-government-increases-secret-documents-show-ng-b88643505z )
How's that "left thing" going?
Aboriginal poverty line? All cactus with no plan just a steady diet & "look over there" distraction tactics identity politics and previous government is to blame not us tricks.
What could we do to reduce poverty? Push & encourage 3 things and you don't force people you educate them. You show them there is a very simple way to get out of poverty. Just follow 3 very simple rules and your chances are elevated hugely.
1) Finish high school and actually try to do very well (if you can get more education after that that helps all the better, but at the very least get yourself properly through High School
2) Get a job & stay employed. What ever it is really isn't the biggest deal just get employed and stay employed. All honest work is noble, you need to chase & attain noble. Only qualified to do labouring jobs but you want an office job? Well no one is 100% assured of working physically in a labouring job til they're 70. At some point you need to get more part time training to get up the ladder to where you need or want to be. No point sitting on the dole because your garage band can't get a record deal. Go to work.
3) Get married BEFORE you have kids. Its not shaming single mothers or single fathers but the best family unit is two married parents in a stable household. Its very unfortunate then if someone ends up a single parent, but raising kids out of wedlock on your own is incredibly hard and whilst there are success stories, nowhere near as many as strong married households...especially ones that consider Finishing high school and getting a job is an imperative.
"Typical right wing rant from white middle class privilege town" will no doubt be the reply in fact I've heard it. There blurring is odd in that yes US Conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro do quote this & therefore it does trigger some leftists into a hate frenzy.
Odd part is, it comes from a study by the Brookings Institute in the USA which is a very left leaning think tank.
You saw that yeah? Left leaning...not conservative. Brookings institute is left leaning yet its seen that the study produces the facts that prove these conservative values are actually better for people and society by reducing poverty, increasing confidence, self worth and productivity across the board.
How much?
75% of people who do those 3 things will end up in the middle class & only 2% of the people who do those 3 things will end up in staying in poverty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6rYasjPY2U
That's the 3 simple steps that in the vast number of cases.
Edward DeBono coined the phrase "Arrogance Arguing" where a person in a debate will either hide or withhold facts that damage their own argument. Its one of the reasons why I'm not a fan of debating ala "school debate" style. The position is predetermined and then you seek out that which benefits your chance of winning the argument rather than what's best for the majority.
We have a massive tear in the moral fabric of our Australian society. Correcting these problems would far easily be achieved if nearly all of the population adhered to the 3 rules.
"But its not that simple"
No it isn't, its extremely difficult, however that is the best pathway for the majority of society and being difficult should not be a barrier.
It is the thing though. Political parties are school debaters, which is why we've seen so many lawyers in state & federal parliament. They're great performers in debates. If policies were music, these debaters would sell millions of records for their party. But its this convenient dropping of facts & blurring the left/right lines that is the problem. If you're going to blur the lines it should not be to beat the other side, it should be to gain the best outcome for the society.
No seeing eagerness in the WALabor camp here.
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